Self-service refrigerated meat display case



March 8 1949. s THRASHER 2,463,658

SELF-SERVICE REFRIGERATED MEAT DISPLAY CASE Filed Feb. 23, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet 1 March 8, 1 4 H. s. THRASHER SELF-SERVICE REFRIGERATEDMEAT DISPLAY CASE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 23, 1946 Inventor eys m MM r rv e M W M m N T x [MW QM 0 m x j Patented Mar. 8, 1949 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE SELF-SERVICE REFRIGERATED MEAT DISPLAY CASE 1Claim. 1

The present invention relates to the retail merchandising of foodproducts and more particularly to the display and the self-service saleof meats and similar food products which require refrigeration.

An important object of the present invention is to provide aself-service meat display case embodying a plurality of refrigeratedcompartments from which customers may select and obtain wrapped cuts ofmeats of various kinds and by means of which a large number of customersmay be simultaneously served without interference with each other andwithout exposing the contents of the several compartments while anarticle is being selected and removed from one of the compartments.

A further object of invention is to provide a self-service meat displaycase of this character embodying a. plurality of individual compartmentseach having a glass door providing access thereto and arranging aprice-tag holder extending along the front of the group of compartments,so that each compartment may be provided with an individual price tag.

A further object of invention is to provide a device of this characterof simple and practical construction, which is neat and attractive inappearance, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and otherwise welladapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein likenumerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on a line3-3 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is a group perspective view of the price tag holder and one ofthe price tags carried thereby.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of invention, thenumeral 5 designates an elongated case including a front wall 6, bottomI and rear wall 8. The rear wall 8 is higher than the front wall 6, asshown to advantage in Figure 2 of the drawings, and a metal tray 9 ispositioned in the upper portion of the case 5, the tray having its frontedge open and with the bottom of the tray supported substantially on ahorizontal plane with the upper edge of the front wall 6. The tray 9 isprovided with a plurality of vertical partitions in separating the trayinto a plurality of compartments II The top of the tray is provided witha glass cover l2 supported by a frame l3, mounted on the upper edge ofthe case and the front of each of the compartments I l is provided witha glass door It hinged at its lower edge as indicated at i5 at the upperedge of the front wall 6, the door being secured in its closed positionby a conventional form of catch device 16. The doors M are swingableoutwardly and downwardly in front of the case as shown by the dottedlines in Figure 2 of the drawings.

A refrigerating unit I! is mounted in the lower portion of the case andincludes a refrigerating coil l8 supported on a rack l9 immediatelybelow the tray 9.

A shelf 20 extends lengthwise of the front wall 6 of the case slightlybelow the upper edge of the front wall 6 and secured on top of the shelfalong its rear edge is a channel shaped price tag holder 2|, the pricetag holder being secured in an inclined position so that the price tags22 positioned in the holder will face upwardly at the rear edge of theshelf 20 and immediately below the doors I 4 of the severalcompartments. One of the price tags or cards 22 is positionedimmediately in front of each of the doors It for the respectivecompartments in which the meat or other food product is displayed.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that wrapped cuts of meats orother packaged food products may be placed on the tray 9 in the severalcompartments II and access thereto is afforded by way of doors [4 at thefront of the compartments, so that customers may select the desiredarticle and remove the same from the compartments by opening the door.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings it is believed that a clear understanding of theconstruction, operation and advantages of the device will be quiteapparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description isaccordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shownand described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same issusceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of theinvention as herein described and the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A self-service show case comprising a cabinet structure having atransparent top, a tray in the cabinet under the top and having spacedparallel partitions forming a plurality of compartments in the tray, arefrigerating unit below the tray, a downwardly opening door in thefront wall of the cabinet for each compartment, and a shelf 4 supportedon the front wall of the cabinet to extend forwardly beneath the doorswhen opened.

HOYT S. THRASHER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,723,630 Platten Aug. 6, 19291,932,694 Gray Oct. 31, 1933 2,248,286 Sanders July 8, 1941

